


unsolicited flora

by Argentina



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Developing Relationship, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, Plants, Short One Shot, and names them after everything in the pokedex, guys i don't know the interior of the magnus institute, he gets like 10000 plants afterwards, jon plays pokemon, like where are the rooms?, of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29802876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argentina/pseuds/Argentina
Summary: Jon stares down at the small potted plant Tim has cupped between his hands.“A succulent?” Jon questions. “What is this for—is itdangerous?”‘No—of course not!” Tim replies, amused. “Not everything has to be work related. This is a gift for you, I got it at the store this morning. Look, there’s even a label on it so you know how often you should water it, and what conditions it needs—”In which Jon's co-workers force him to adopt plants. (And he names them after Pokemon.)
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Sasha James, Martin Blackwood & Sasha James & Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood & Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker, Sasha James & Tim Stoker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 111





	unsolicited flora

“Jon!” Tim calls out, rushing over to the man before he gets the chance to disappear into the Archives to resume his work. He stays in there for countless hours at a time, and Tim doesn’t know when he’ll get an opportunity to interact with Jon again—he nearly missed this one. 

“Yes?” Jon asks, glancing over, both of his arms full with a stack of documents. Tim has his hands behind his back, and he grins. Jon sighs, aware that this is the face Tim has before he’s about to delve into his shenanigans. “If you’re going to tell me something, make it quick.”

“Oh, not _tell_ you,” Tim corrects, bringing his arms out so Jon can see what he’s holding. “I’m going to give you something.”

Jon stares down at the small potted plant Tim has cupped between his hands.

“A succulent?” Jon questions. “What is this for—is it _dangerous_?”

‘No—of course not!” Tim replies, amused. “Not everything has to be work related. This is a gift for you, I got it at the store this morning. Look, there’s even a label on it so you know how often you should water it, and what conditions it needs—”

“Okay, okay, I… appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with a plant, Tim, and I’m busy, so please go and give it to somebody else. I need to get back to work; I apologize,” Jon states, dismissing Tim and walking down the hall. 

“Wait!” Tim exclaims, chasing after him once more. Jon pauses briefly, so he takes that moment to deposit the succulent on top of the stack of documents. Jon can’t move his arms to take it off, because he’ll drop the pages if he tries. 

“Alright, that’s all. I’ll be heading back to my duties now, take care, boss!” Tim tells him before taking off in the opposite direction. 

“You’re going to get dirt on these documents!” Jon shouts, but Tim is already rounding a corner, pleased at getting away with his actions.

* * *

Jon strolls into the canteen, holding his empty mug.

Damn Tim for giving him a succulent to take care of. He doesn’t know whether it even needs water at the moment, since Tim claims he got it from the store this morning, but Jon supposes he’d rather be safe than sorry. He turns on the tap and places his mug under it.

His newfound plant isn’t going to die of dehydration, if he can help it. 

Wait. 

If he overwaters it—

“Hey, Jon!” Martin greets, giving him a wide smile from a few feet beside him. It snaps Jon out of his thoughts. “Would you like me to fill that for you?” Martin asks, gesturing to the mug, “I can make you some tea. Any kind.”

“Oh,” Jon states. Right, Martin usually brings him tea, but that’s not what he needs this time. “No thank you, I’m just here to get some water.” 

“Oh?” Martin asks, smiling mischievously. “I didn’t know you were capable of actually drinking plain water.”

“No, this isn’t for me…” Jon trails off, squinting at Martin. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No reason,” Martin says, but proceeds to reveal the reason anyway, as he reaches toward the end of the counter, grabs something, and slides it in Jon’s direction. 

It’s a potted orchid. 

Oh god, they’re conspiring against him.

“Here,” Martin says happily. “I didn’t know what color to get you, so I just went with white. I hope you like it! You can name it, too.”

“I am _not_ naming my plants,” Jon counters, obstinate.

“Plants? As in plural?” Martin laughs. “So you’re adopting this one then. Well, have fun!”

“No, I never said that—” Jon begins, but Martin’s already running away, and he’s not about to go and hunt him down over an _orchid_ , of all things. 

Fine. It’s just another one. He can deal with two plants. It doesn't matter to him.

* * *

Jon is ready for a new day at work, undisturbed by random plants.

The succulent and the orchid ended up in his home. He brought them there last night, because the Magnus Institute is no greenhouse, and it’s not going to keep anything alive that needs sunlight. 

For a whole two seconds, he foolishly believed that today would be a regular day, up until Sasha strides up to him with some aloe vera. 

“Not you as well,” Jon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He’s so done with this. 

“Me as well?” Sasha questions, looking to the side, feigning cluelessness. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There are others?”

“Oh, please. Just hand it over,” Jon tells her. She’s blocking his path, and he has a feeling she’s not going to move unless he accepts her offer. 

“Okay! Here you go,” Sasha gives it to him swiftly. “I’m glad you like it!”

“Thank you,” Jon mumbles, staring down at it in his hands. 

_Please be the last one._

* * *

He didn’t plan on getting attached to these three plants. 

But he did. 

He doesn’t even even realize it until he’s talking about it to Martin one day, telling him how much Bayleef has grown, and Martin reacts with:

“The pokemon?”

“What?” Jon replies. “I mean, yes, Bayleef is a pokemon’s name, but I used it for my aloe vera—” 

“Oh my god, you actually _named_ them?” Martin stares in awe. “After pokemon? Wait, you _play_ pokemon?”

“I have, in the past…”

“I knew it! You’re secretly a gamer,” Martin exclaims. “Please tell me you chose good names for the orchid and the succulent too.”

“Venusaur and Leafeon, respectively.”

Martin laughs. “This is _too_ good. We didn’t think you would like the plants, but it turns out we were wrong.”

“Why’d you three even give them to me?” Jon asks. 

“Oh, it was Sasha’s idea. She said that if you had to take care of something else, you might take care of yourself better as well. Is it working?” Martin scrutinizes his appearance. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Hm. Maybe?” Did it?

“So she was right!” Martin states, then realizes something. “Oh, I should probably let the two of them know. They’d be delighted to hear about the names. Wait here.”

Jon rolls his eyes, but smiles as Martin heads off to search for their co-workers.

**Author's Note:**

> *furiously googles grass pokemon types*


End file.
